In Massachusetts and Rhode Island, a company that runs an addiction recovery facility has been accused by federal prosecutors of billing millions of dollars to Medicare and Medicaid for services that were never rendered. The company’s owner and a senior employee have also been accused of healthcare fraud.
For reportedly mistreating hundreds of patients and defrauding insurance companies out of millions of dollars, a network of addiction recovery facility, along with its proprietor and a former employee, have been charged with federal crimes. (Photo: https://www.reuters.com/)
According to Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha, the company’s proprietor, Michael Brier, and its former supervising counselor, Mi Ok Bruining, were detained on Thursday. They will show up in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, later today.
The scheme, according to Cunha, was “particularly pernicious” because it not only took advantage of government health insurance programs but also “cheated a defenseless community of recovery patients out of the complete, authentic support and care that they need to have a shot at recovery.”
The defendants regularly invoiced Medicare and Medicaid for 45-minute therapy sessions even though the meetings only lasted five to ten minutes, according to court documents released after the defendants were taken into custody. Sometimes, they invoiced government insurance programs for more treatment time than they could have reasonably provided in a day.
In addition, prosecutors claimed that when the recovery facility applied to be listed as a provider qualified to receive payment from Medicare, RCCA and Brier concealed his control of the company and his 2013 guilty plea to tax fraud. They also accused Brier, who is not a doctor, of pretending to practice medicine illegally and secretly prescribing medications under the identities of other medical professionals and under their Drug Enforcement Administration registration numbers.
Prosecutors claimed that since April 2018, RCCA had gotten over $2.4 million from Medicare, $7.2 million from the Massachusetts Medicaid program, and $6 million from other payors. How much of that money is said to be the result of fraud is not instantly apparent.
United States v. Rehabilitation Link Centers of America, No. 1:23-mj-00013; United States v. Brier, No. 1:23-mj-00012; and United States v. Bruining, No. 1:23-mj-00011, are the cases. They are all pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
Kevin Hubbard and Deputy United States Prosecutors Sara Bloom represent the government.
Charles Tamuleviz of McLaughlin Quinn, on behalf of the RCCA
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